During their lifetime a person can achieve frame from rare ability, dumb luck or a combination of the two. Only a fraction of those individuals who become famous during their lifetime have mass appeal after their death. These actors, athletes and celebrities have achieved the rarest kind of fame - everlasting fame. There is a value to that fame.

According to Forbes magazine, five dead celebrities earned big bucks in 2012. In first place was Elizabeth Taylor, who died in 2011, but earned $210 million last year. Next was Michael…